6 June, 2019 (10.00)

Finding Focus

Previous events

May 22-23, 2019

Orpheus Doctoral Conference 2019

This conference explores musician’s long relationship with their instruments and instrumentalities, questioning issues of autonomy and agency in the apparent dichotomy between tools and musical expression. From the mechane of Greek theatres from which gods were suspended, to Mozart’s description of the Stein fortepiano’s knee-lever as “Die Maschine”, to the epoch-defining technologies of recording, sound synthesis, and algorithmic composition of more recent times, performers and composers have relied on mechanical means to create magic in their art.

April 18-19, 2018

Orpheus Doctoral Conference 2018

Music, and the arts in general, has always been a source of inspiration in times of crisis; it establishes rapport between peoples and cultures and serves as a laboratory for the creation and expression of cultural values. Dissolving Borders invited proposals that will investigate and problematize how musicians create political spaces that transcend demarcated space and culture, on scales both global and local, macro and micro. We seek work that engages with the complex realities of inter-cultural contact, including issues of migration, communication, integration, acceptance, and symbiosis. As the world experiences radical displacement during an era of unprecedented enforcement of borders, we seek earnest engagements with the vibrant history of music’s entanglement with these issues. Looking to past musics, musicians, and scholarship, we encourage imaginations of music’s current and future role as a cultural and political agent.